crazyhorse1 wrote:At any rate, if RG3 just stays as good as he is for ten years or so, he'll be a HOFer and probably the best player, not just better quarterback, than the Skins have ever had. I do think he'll put up better numbers than now...when some coach cuts him loose as a passer. We need to pass more.

I also think we're a better defense and a couple of great receivers away from a super bowl. Maybe Garcon is one; Davis won't be great, just good. We need a another receiver of true quality. Pull out the bucks, Danny. Now's the time.

[sarcasm] This can't be right. After all, you are ch1 and you fly off the handle and shoot from the hip. [/sarcasm]

“[Robert Griffin III] only reads one side of the field, and the Kansas City Chiefs were very aware of that. When he takes the snap, his head goes to whatever side of the field he wants to throw to, and so do the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs. He looks right; you’ve got three guys just running right to pick up routes. They aborted the other side of the field in their zones.”

This can't be denied. This was not the case in his rookie year.

“His technique right now, as far as dropping and throwing the ball, is dreadful. He’s throwing high over and over and over again. He’s throwing behind guys, he’s missing guys, his accuracy is as low as I’ve seen from a guy who should be a very good quarterback."

This can't be denied. In his rookie year, he was one of the most accurate passers in the NFL - both statistically and by the eye test.

"He is never taking a regular drop from under center. He is only taking awkward pistol drops and shotgun drops. And I believe if you want to evolve him as far as technique goes, it wouldn’t hurt to have him take a five-step drop from under the center. He’s never doing that. We’re never doing that. If they aren’t going to do that ever, they need to work on his technique."

More truth. I blame the coaches - he was not ready on opening day and things got worse in this regard. He did plenty of this in his rookie year and did it well - both statistically and by the eye test.

"It’s like a golfer who moves his feet the entire time he swings….He has such happy feet when he’s in the pocket; even if he’s untouched, free in the pocket, he’s jumping, he’s stepping, he’s got legs flipping everywhere as he throws the ball, and I have such a hard time believing that he can be accurate in that fashion. And he’s not. He’s proving me right, every week. He’s inaccurate.”

He's right again. Griff, one of the most accurate passers in the league in his rookie year, suddenly cannot hit the broad side of a barn. The explanation is in the earlier quotations.

“At this point, my belief is that he may not be getting better; he may be developing worse habits that would stay with him for a longer period of time. When Shanahan talked about keeping him healthy, I don’t hate the idea of him coming out to stay healthy. Because he goes from his first read to looking around the offensive line to see if he needs to run. He doesn’t have faith to sit in that pocket and go from one side of the field to the other. His eyes go from first read to am I getting sacked almost simultaneously. And he’s stepping up and making moves to run in the pocket when he goes off read number 1.”

We've all seen this (I know I have) and it's distressing. But it is a recent development. He was not like this as a rookie.

“I watched Kirk on four or five plays buy time in the pocket, and move from read one to read two to the other side of the field. Now, I’m not saying that he played outstanding, but it was proven that he could buy time. He had pressure in his pocket and he was able to sit in the pocket.”

We saw this.

“The problem with Robert is if he’s able to make plays on the move, then that’s one thing. You want him to stay in the pocket, but once he’s out of the pocket, he has no vision downfield. He may be looking downfield, but he has lost coverage. His determination of where the coverage is is gone. And he’s not able to see very accurately down the field. There were four or five times when he was able to escape the pocket forward, had guys that he could have delivered a pass to, and didn’t see them. So I’m not sure if he’s just looking for his guys to block or what, but it’s not very good.”

The youtube link of highlights from his FIRST GAME against the Saints proves Griff has not always been like this. This is new THIS PAST YEAR.

“Yeah, Kirk played against the backups. I thought he did some nice things though. He has the presence of a quarterback who sits in the pocket and throws.”

“Overall Kirk is a better pocket passer right now. That’s apparent, very easily, that he is able to sit and execute the drop-back offense that we want to run at times better than Robert can. Ultimately RGIII gives you a more explosive element, a big-play style that I think is needed in the NFL [more] than Kirk does. But he’s not very good right now when it comes to getting from 1 to 2 to 3. He just isn’t. I think he fears that he’s going to be sacked, I think he fears everything around him in the pocket.”

Currently true, for sure.

“The Chiefs zone-blitzed us four times while Robert was in the game. Four times they blitzed away from our line side, and they had a guy come free. In all four of those instances, one of our offensive linemen was standing with no one to block, away from that blitz. I’m not sure if that’s Will Montgomery, and I’m not sure if that’s Robert. But one of those guys has to be able to pick that up. One time they brought that blitz when Kirk Cousins was in, and the line side changed, and they picked that blitz up.”

This is the line someone keeps using to suggest Griff is incapable of making pre-snap reads/protection calls - either due to lack of intelligence, lack of work ethic, or both. Read it carefully. I have seen Griff make plenty of audibles and protection changes. He is capable. To incessantly harp on this is to overstate a case.

“They also ran double-stick five times in the game out of an empty formation; completed it once. I mean, these are EASY plays, that we can’t even get through our reads and complete. We can’t even get it to our premier guy. I’m pretty blown away by that.”

Again, this is true but was just the opposite in his rookie year.

Eeventually, Steve Czaban asked if all of this meant that the Redskins had vastly overpaid for a player who remains a work-in-progress.

“You’re getting close,” C00ley said. “You’re getting close. You would have said the exact same thing about Cam Newton [last season], and he’s having a much better year. [But] he’s got to find a way to grow.”

This.

Griff is not a drowning man (unintelligent lazy bones) who needs to grow gills (learn how to make pre-snap reads, change protections, and go through progressions). He's already proven he can do this. He is a talented, hard-working QB who needs to have a full healthy off-season to get back to where he was 2 years ago. Then he can continue to grow.

I consider RG3first1second a project but the question posed is reasonable. I assume Griffin will regain his mobility and throwing accuracy in 2014 so I will mention other things. Here are my suggestions in order of importance:

1. Attitude. Griffin is a prima doña and if he is serious about improving I think he ought to start with improving his attitude and becoming a better teammate and less self centered human being.

2. Begin to learn the mental part of the game which is the most important part of being a quarterback. First he should learn how to make per snap reads and shift the protections and audible of bad plays.

3. Learn how to make post snap reads so you can anticipate who is going to open.

4. Learn how to correctly and quickly go through his progression quickly.

5. If he has learned 2-4 he is in a position to learn 5 utilize and preserve the pocket by shifting effectively within it.

6. Play smart and stay healthy. It's a team game and best way he can help his team is improve 1, master 2-4 and 5 play smart ball.

I think the Skins paid an enormous price for extraordinary mobility and a very strong arm which are just two "nice to have" attributes and they assumed all the "must have" between the ears capabilities were there or could be developed. A dubious assumption and a ridiculous gamble to make for 3 first round and 1 second pick. I think he is going be a bust but I hope he proves me wrong by showing evidence of commitment to improve on 1-6. There are many quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame that had merely so-so arms and I can think of a lot guys that had howitzers that washed out. When I think about the best QB's in the league now Brady and Brees don't have strong arms like Cutler. It is hard to call to mind any HOF QBs with extraordinary mobility, Steve Young and John Elway come to mind but they didn't run like Griffin.

Griff seems to lack confidence. He is unwilling to pull the trigger. A guy makes a cut and is open. Griff says no and goes to the second read ... who is open. Griff says no and starts scrambling. He sees Niles Paul open. Griff has time to square up an throw a dart. He throws an inaccurate jump pass that morphs into a goofy pick.